There is another interesting fan production in development, this time set before the original Star Trek series and focusing on another famous starship captain, Garth of Izar. The new series is called "Star Trek: Axanar" and it is being developed by a team that includes some members of the Star Trek Phase II series. The "web feature" also has just cast BSG star Richard Hatch who plays the main Klingon antagonist. Find out more about Axanar below.

Garth Gets A Back-Story in Star Trek: Axanar

The new fan production "Star Trek: Axanar" will tell the story of Garth of Izar who was the main antagonist in the Star Trek episode "Whom Gods Destroy." That episode established that before being committed to the Elba II asylum for the criminally insane, Garth was a celebrated Fleet Captain in Starfleet and hero to a young James T. Kirk. His greatest acclaim came at the Battle of Axanar, the study of which was required at Starfleet Academy. Star Trek: Axanar will tell the story of that famous Federation/Klingon battle, which took place 20 years before the original Star Trek series.

The original Garth from "Whom Gods Destroy" gets a whole new prequel adventure in "Star Trek: Axanar"

"Axanar" is the brainchild of Propworx founder Alec Peters who has been thinking about this idea for 15 years. He tells TrekMovie that he has always felt there is "an amazing story to tell" about Garth who was Kirk’s hero before an accident lead to madness and attempted genocide. The project got a jump start two years ago when Peters, an avid collector, was showing Star Trek: Phase II series executive producer James Cawley his recently acquired original Garth costume. After expressing his fascination with the character, Cawley then had the Phase II writers add a part for Peters (as Garth) in the Phase II "Origins" flashback episode which shot last year. Cawley also supported the idea of creating an "Axanar" web movie and offered up the use of the USS Enterprise bridge set, which will be redressed to appear as the bridge of Garth’s USS Ares (a new ship created for Axanar). The Phase II "Origins" episode is expected to be released before Axanar, and so it will establish Peters in the role of Garth.

The Axanar project is currently in pre-production. Peters has partnered up with John Kelly (Dr. McCoy in Phase II) and Star Trek novelist Dave Galanter to write the script, which is currently being finalized. Much of the design work for props, costumes and ships has been completed. Shooting will start in February of 2013 and run through (in different stages) to fall 2013. The goal is to release the first "bookend" vignette (set shortly after the events of "Whom Gods Destroy") in late 2013. The rest of the Axanar "web feature" will then be released as a series of webisodes starting in late 2013 and run through 2014. In all the goal is to have around 10 (or so) webisodes add up to a web feature of 75-90 minutes by the time they are all released. These will be followed by another post-script TOS era "bookend" vignette.

Casting is still being finalized, but Peters did reveal that veteran Battlestar Galactica actor Richard Hatch will be playing Kharn, the leader of the Klingons at the Battle of Axanar. Peters of course will play Garth and John Kelly will be reprising his Phase II role as Dr. McCoy in a vignette set during the TOS era, but he does not appear in the main Axanar film. Other Phase II actors will appear in the two TOS-era vignettes including Cawley as James T. Kirk.

Richard Hatch cast as Klingon commander Kharn in "Star Trek: Axanar"

The Axanar team has a goal of making their web feature "epic" and they hope to include other important characters from Star Trek lore. Peter’s reveals that we will see Soval retiring and handing the reigns of the Vulcan embassy to a young Sarek. Other roles include a young Lieutenant Chang as well as Robert April. Peters didn’t reveal any more casting details for these roles, but he did say "fans will love" who they have in mind for the role of April.

Garth’s ship the USS Ares was designed by Peters, Sean Tourangeau (who designed the USS Titan) and digital artist Tobias Richter. In addition Richter and his team are doing the visual effects for Axanar. Below you can see a test flyby video of the USS Ares.

FX test flyby of USS Ares from "Axanar"

Richter’s team has also designed (and rendered) a new Klingon D-6 cruiser, along with a number of other Federation and Klingon ships. Peters says that "The VFX will be important, not only because of the massive space battles, but because the ships are characters themselves in the story." Even though Axanar is set before the time of the USS Enterprise, Peters reveals we will see the big E in dry dock.

Klingon D6 design from "Star Trek: Axanar"

While some shooting is being done on the Phase II sets in New York, most of the production will be done on new sets being built in Southern California (including a brand new set for the bridge of the D-6). Peters explains the advantages of working in LA area, saying "there is just so much talent in Southern California, and we need to tap into that. I study at the Howard Fine acting school in Los Angeles, which ironically, two other Phase II alums attend, and so we have a ready pool of talent there as well as directors and producers who I know in L.A. who have also signed on."

Axanar will be directed by Christian Gossett, who created The Red Star, which was recently optioned by Warner Brothers and is in development there. "Christian is an amazing artist, and one of those rare talents who is both a great writer and a great artist. He understands story and how to translate that to the visual media. His first short, "Only Child" has been recognized at several film festivals and is getting Christian a lot of attention."

Costume design concepts for "Star Trek: Axanar"

Axanar has a funded budget of $50,000 so far. Peters says the show isn’t raising any money currently but they may do so in the future. He and his partners are committed to making Axanar "a very professional independent movie. "Axanar has new sets, new costumes, new ships, everything will be different, though very close to the original series."

The Axanar team has already started videotaping some behind the scenes features and those should be made available online soon. TrekMovie will provide updates on this project as it releases more materials.

I had the privilege of meeting Alec last summer and talking with him about Axanar since then. I’ll just say that *all* enthusiasm for Axanar is more than justified! Lots of very talented folks involved, as noted above. This is definitely something to look forward to!

Sounds interesting. Nothing against Mr. Peters, but after seeing the photo of Richard Hatch might he be a better choice for Garth of Izar? Even if it breaks continuity with Peters having previously starred in the role. Have Hatch do a reverse Just for Men hair application and there you go.

Alec has a lot of beautiful energy and is as Star Trek manic as everyone involved with ST.p2. I had the opportunity to hang out with him on the set of ST.p2’s episode ‘Bread and Savagery’ penned by Rich Chambers (see above – #6) which I guest starred in and I’m one of the Howard Fine acting school alumni he mentions in the article. When I learned he was playing Garth, it immediately made sense to me; he has the eyes for the role and I told him so. I know who he’s trying to entice to play Capt. April and if it happens, fans are going to be floored. ST.Axanar is one to watch my friends.

Looking forward to this for a number of reasons. The ships look great, getting to see a Captain April in action, and Richard Hatch as the Klingon villian? All looks very Cool.
I am curious, is Withrow pictured above with Peters the actor who played the Admiral in Going Boldly? Thought the GB Admiral was well acted and was wondering who the actor was?

I know I did not mean for the Ares to look like a TOS Titan but with the direction that Alec gave emit sort did turn out like that. It has been fun designing the Ares and the costumes for this. Now I can’t wait to get to work on Mr. Hatch’s Klingon look.

@13 “The Hermes is an evolution of the USS Intrepid seen in STAR TREK ENTERPRISE (The Expanse, Twilight).”

I respectfully disagree. Except for the nacelles, that ship is identical to the USS Newton from Star Trek `09. It has twin secondary hulls/hangar bays below the level of the saucer section, just like the Newton. The surface detail, bridge, etc., is the same.

The quality and care that goes into these fan films NEVER ceases to amaze me. These are people who do this for nothing more than love of the game, and yet they yield products that would’ve made most major TV studios blush with embarrassment at one time.

I salute them as well as their ingenuity and resourcefulness and I offer my thanks for not only ‘living the dream’ but sharing it with the rest of us fans.

And I’ve met Richard Hatch at conventions on many occasions. He is as passionate about science fiction as any one of us fans. He is the real deal. He is also a very open guy who will gladly talk to anyone who shares that passion for sci-fi. I found him to be very personable and just an all-around great guy who treats the fan base with much respect.

And while I love new Battlestar Galactica VERY much (not to mention his personal involvement in it), there is also a sentimental part of me that would’ve also loved to have seen Hatch’s concept for a TOS BSG sequel series/movie bear fruit. I’ve seen his “Second Coming” trailer, and it had some interesting ideas. His BSG sequel books were a lot of fun as well. Sort of an unofficial TOS BSG final season, so to speak.

I look very forward to “Axanar.” I’m already a Phase II fan and I wish this new team (with some P2 members) all the luck in the galaxy!

Nice pictures (very nice in fact) but what is the point if one cant clip & paste to their Star Trek Stuff in their Pictures folder? to prevent unscrupulous folks to from doing unscrupulous things with those images?

Richard Hatch should play the lead. He actually looks like Garth and is a credible actor. Sorry, Alec as I’m sure you’re bank rolling part of this. The Phase 2 team has proven that their production is credible. The acting has always been the weakest part along with the editing, but even that has improved. I would hate to see yet another beautiful production marred by lukewarm acting. This may have started out as fan made productions and you could forgive a certain amount of flat presentation but when your mixing credible actors with novices…not so sure. Think about it.

Looking forward to this. Beautiful ship design and renderings by Tobias and company as well as the exciting addition of Mr. Hatch to the cast. I suppose we had to say bu-bye to the miniskirts one day, but I wasn’t looking forward to it. However, this costume design is very well thought out.

Whoa! Nice ships and great designs. I look forward to see the new series. I am also happy to see the ships from Star Trek 90210 are transforming into the Star Trek Universe as we know. Love the Hermes design. The Klingon D-6 looks fantastic. Thanks everyone.

Go Alec! Well done.
Alec did a great job in Go Boldly.
I also got to spend some time with Alec last June during the Bread and Savagery shoot.
He bought lunch for everybody a couple of times. (No small feat!)
Alec is an incredibly talented guy and I’m looking forward to Axanar.

Richard Hatch in TREK!! awesome…bringing 2 giants of scifi together…ST and BSG!!…If he’s as passionate on the TREK as he is for BSG, he should give it his all!….Those ships are awesome..love the design of the Ares….secondary hull similar to the 1701E.. and the nacelles are great! The bridge module on the Hermes is similar to the Kelvin as well…..looks really good..can’t wait to see!

Everyone knows the male Starfleet uniform contains a pair of boots and yet in PATTERNS OF FORCE when McCoy is faced with putting on a pair of Nazi boots, he can’t figure them out until Spock gives him a tutorial.

Tobias Richter has been designing 3d ships since the days of the Commodore Amiga and has a real feel for how starfleet ships should look, What a pity he is not on the design team for the JJ movies then we’d have a great looking ship instead of that horrible Enterprise design that they came up with.

Pardon my skepticism, but this would be a lot more promising and exciting if Peters had cast a real (as in experienced professional) actor in the lead role instead of himself, which makes the whole enterprise seem like a very expensive self-indulgence (for which I presume he’s largely footing to bill for, so more power to him I guess).

Actually, My first acting class was with Richard Hatch 20 years ago. He and I stayed friends all these years and why he took the role of Kharn. I have done a small amount of on-screen work (one of my first pieces was hosting a feature on the Star Trek II:TWOK Blue Ray) and I am a member of the Howard Fine Acting Studio, one of the finest acting studios in Hollywood, where I have been studying this past year and will continue to work as we shoot Axanar.

65. – Thanks for your very courteous response. I sincerely wish you only the very best (I’m a huge admirer of Propworx, btw), but just to be clear, you have no professional acting experience, correct? As in, getting hired and paid to act? (Hosting is not acting, though that is a very cool feature on the TWOK Blu-ray.)

I certainly commend you on the acting lessons, and for footing the bill on the project (which is a really cool idea), but my point was that (as stated by others) the weakest link in these projects tends to be the acting, which is why I’m disappointed you didn’t go for a great experienced pro for the role.

That said, for all I know you may very well be an undiscovered acting genius destined to blow us all away with your brilliance in this role (I certainly hope so), but it just strains credulity that this is the case, given no one’s ever hired or paid you to act before, and let’s face it, you’re basically buying yourself the role; hence, not only depriving another actor of it, but arguably depriving the audience and the rest of your cast and crew of any number of better possible choices for the role… and hence any number of better possible versions of this project a lot of people are clearly committing a lot of time and hard work toward.

In other words, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few – or the one.

But, again, it’s your money and your call, so more power to you, and best of luck. I really hope you’re great.

I have to say, both of your posts show a great deal of arrogance and condescension as well as a total ignorance of why people make fan films.

You clearly don’t get what these projects are about. They are about passionate Star Trek fans making Star Trek films with ourselves playing the roles we want to play (be that actor, producer or director). We don’t make a dime, and in fact we spend tens of thousands of $ of our own money. And we do it because WE want the experience of making Star Trek. Not because we want to hire professionals to do it for us.

Sure acting is often the weakest link in these projects, along with weak stories. Why don’t people hire better writers? They are all amateurs. Why don’t people get professional DPs? Why not professional editors? Because we AREN’T making professional features. We are making vanity projects.

Saying I am depriving an actor a role is ridiculous since I am creating dozens of roles by funding this.

And quoting Spock is ludicrous since there are no “needs” here. This is about fun. And I want to have fun playing Garth in a role I wrote. It is about the journey. Sorry if you are disappointed. But then again, I am not making it for you.

Whorfin: I don’t think it is fair all to judge someone on their acting abilities before you have seen them perform. Just because someone is new to the craft doesn’t mean they can’t perform well on screen. Also, there is nothing wrong with a Producer or a Director performing in a film they are working on. Happens all the time in Hollywood. I just saw Tarantino in Django Unchainedlast night, and his role was one of the best parts of the film. I would wait and see the film before making any judgments.

As it goes with these productions, they are started with the dream of one person and spread to others at warp speed… Rarely will someone want to create a fan-series and NOT want the starring role. Sometimes the creator is talented and sometimes not… In many cases, they are not professional actors but someone wanting their dream to come to life. In Alec’s case, he has shown that he has the dream AND the talent, without money really coming into the equasion. The majority of the productions are ran on a shoe string budget, but get completed anyway. They are not “Oscar worthy”, but they are certainly fun to watch – and of course, thats why they’re created. Axanar is going to rock.

67: JohnWorfin…Way to condecend, Captain Buzzkill. You know, if it bothers you so much, you needn’t watch it. Alec is right…you obviously don’t get it…and your comment makes you a snarky troll…just MHO..

Your comment, though worded more diplomatically than many I’ve read over the years, is still the sort of thing that discourages people from following their dreams and sucks the joy out of these things for too many.

Your assumption about Alec’s abilities in the role without seeing him in it is unfair. For the record, I have directed Alec. I also am a professional director, having been paid to do so on more than one occasion. In my opinion, Alec will do a fine job. I truly enjoyed working with him and found him quite talented. He is dedicated, has an on-screen presence that holds the audience’s attention, and he is easy to direct and a quick study.

I am quite looking forward to seeing him in “Axanar”, and I believe you will be pleasantly surprised if you leave your preconceptions behind!

68. Your points are very well taken, and very well said. I sincerely respect and admire you being so self-aware and forthcoming in admitting this is a vanity project you are making purely for fun, and frankly for yourself rather than an audience. That’s actually really refreshing to hear in such honest terms, and as I said before, I wish you nothing but the best, and hope it turns out great. Kudos to you for being able to make your dream come true, and I hope you have the time of your life doing it.

I just hope you can understand where I was coming from, which was the perspective of a fellow fan who’s just sat through far too many frustrating fan films that held so much promise, but are almost always held back by painfully bad acting (and often writing). So I hope you can forgive my “here we go again” conditioned response.

69. Sometimes there is [something wrong]. Have you not seen all of Quentin’s films? ;-)

I agree that the acting is usually the worst part of any fan film (along with story) as you correctly point out. But it was your arrogant and condescending attitude and assumption I can’t act that I and others found off-putting. You assume I can’t act with no information whatsoever and merely because I have another career.

You say you are a big fan of Propworx, so you should know how we did everything to a very high standard. The BSG prop and costume auctions were hailed as the best auctions of their kind ever. In a past career I coached an NCAA Champion volleyball team and a Junior Olympic champion. I started 4 companies, one of which sold for $ 16M (sadly I didn’t get any of that!). As my acting coach says, you do everything the way you do one thing. Excellence is a behavior.

BTW, I am not perfect, far from it. You want to criticize anything, it should be my bad temper, which you luckily did not see because I have been working on it! 5 years ago I would be in a flame war with you! :-)

And I am in fact doing this for an audience to enjoy and not just for some self-indulgent wish fulfillment. That is WHY we are looking for the best people, hiring only professional actors and dedicating so much time and effort to the project. A lot of people are taking notice of Axanar for all the right reasons. Again, a commitment to excellence is a behavior. You don’t turn it off.

But yes, I do forgive your response and hope you will be more open minded and just wait to see what we offer. Then, if you think my acting sucks, feel free to blast away! I am just hoping my natural talents along with a year of training will prevent that. :-)

Okay, you guys realize that the “black-collar” uniforms shouldn’t be in something set 20 years before TOS, right? If anything, the uniforms should be similar to the ones seen in “The Cage” and “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” Additionally, the colorful nacelle caps shouldn’t be present, either; they should be the dull, deep crimson of the pilot-era Enterprise. Having the colorful caps just creates an inconsistency.

And I’m not even going to get into how messed-up it is that your Klingons will have ridges – and even if you’re going for a TMP-style Klingon forehead, there was NOTHING subtle about their spinal-column heads, so I don’t know what you’re talking about there.

Will you be using the same “alternate reality” excuse that JJ Abrams used?

There is a basic decision you make when re-imagining TOS and earlier Star Trek. You either are a slave to a 1960’s vision of the future and what is basically very outdated, our you take your cues from it and go from there. JJ went entirely different, we are much closer to TOS but still not a slave to it.

Your points:

1) Costumes – How do you explain the costume on the Kelvin in 2233, which is canon in both universes? That is a fact and you ignore that entirely.

“Axanar” takes place 26 years before “Where No Man Has Gone Before” and thus 15 years before “The Cage”. Uniforms certainly changed a lot in 16 years, look how they changes from “The Cage” to “WNMHGB” in those eleven years, and then again one episode later you get the black collar. Uniforms changed constantly.

Star Trek is a 60’s TV show and costume continuity was not important from one pilot to another and then a series changed everything again.

“Axanar” is a web series set 12 years AFTER the Kelvin and 10 years BEFORE “The Cage”. We basically get to do whatever we want!

2) Nacelle Caps – see above, all the same argument.

3) Klingons with ridges – you are wrong. Ridge head Klingons are established in “Enterprise” as the standard look of Klingons, and the smooth heads of TOS are a genetic anomaly because of the Klingon experiments with the Terran Augment DNA. So your point (which you seem to imply) is totally wrong. And if you watch TMP can tell the head ridges on the Klingons are more like a spinal column ridge in teh center of the head than a full forehead skullcap.

4) No excuses – We are creating a Star Trek design ethic for a period of time in the prime timeline that has not been addressed. Obviously, being a “purist” you think that everyone should just reuse TOS style. Well, our view of the future has changed over the past 46 years and frankly, “The Cage” has the look of BAD 50’s Sci Fi.

And you seem to be the only person in this entire thread who doesn’t like what we are doing (and you come off with a really bad attitude. You could say what you did and be pleasant at the same time). A lot of very good people did a lot of very good work and we and everyone else are very happy with what has been done. Maybe you can point out any other such production which has done anything close to creating as compelling a new design aesthetic as “Axanar” has? There is none since everyone else is basically just copying what has been done before (not that there is anything wrong with that). When you do something different, some people will like it and some won’t. Fortunately almost everyone so far loves it.

I don’t have a bad attitude, I’m just a little weary of everyone stomping everywhere over TOS without the least bit of concern for previously established continuity, OR a respect for the source material (TOS). I’m not discussing the obviously high-quality aspects of this production – merely certain elements that are frankly quite baffling.

First off, I didn’t like the odd Kelvin uniforms either. But at least they didn’t disrupt TOS uniform continuity by introducing the “black-collar” uniforms long before they actually were around. Your production does this for some reason, and I can’t understand why. You mention that in TOS’s production, continuity wasn’t important from pilot to pilot to TV show, but it WAS important. Obviously things evolved and changed, but they didn’t swing wildly back and forth between design stages. There was a gradual progression in the design of the uniforms that makes sense.

As for the Klingons, even if you accept “Enterprise” as canon (which I personally do not), the episode that addresses the Klingon ridges makes it pretty clear that the “smooth-forehead syndrome” affected the entire Klingon race, and was NOT an isolated issue. At the very least, if you’re hell-bent on having bumpy-headed Klingons, show some smooth-headed guys as well. I’m also not sure why you wanted to make a TOS fanfilm, but not remain true to the way things looked.

I don’t expect anybody to perfectly replicate every single aspect of TOS – obviously a higher-quality production is desirable, and even I admit that having sets that don’t look like they’re made from cardboard would be awesome. But that doesn’t mean you should throw the baby out with the bathwater and actually REJECT key elements from TOS, either (like having bumpy-headed Klingons instead of smooth-headed ones). That just doesn’t make sense.

I know I keep mentioning the Klingons, but please allow me to mention them one last time and petition you to have smooth-headed Klingons. Smooth-headed Klingons only appeared (sparingly) in six episodes of TOS, but have made a lasting impression on fans despite not appearing in ANYTHING else (until the single ENT episode). For 40 years, we’ve seen nothing but bumpy-headed Klingons in countless episodes, movies, video games, and comic books. Fans of the smooth-headed Klingons only have six episodes of TOS to content themselves with. The smooth-head guys are a lost opportunity – they’re so cool (everyone knows Kor and Kang are the best Klingons ever), yet never explored or featured elsewhere. Despite the nitpicking, I am excited by your production, and I would love to be able to see REAL… er, smooth-headed Klingons again. I think it would really set your production above and beyond all the others and make a lasting impression on fans (since you’re obviously a higher quality than New Voyages/Phase II or the other ones).

Well, we don’t stomp on TOS and spend enormous amounts of time talking about how exactly we should represent a time 21 years before TOS and 12 years after the USS Kelvin, both canon. You aren’t the only Star Trek geek in the world and I doubt you could out-geek me on Star Trek knowledge.

1) Costumes – There is nothing to say Starfleet couldn’t have gone from a black collar to the turtleneck and back. The fact is you cannot reconcile the 2009 Star Trek movies design aesthetic for the Kelvin, which is prime timeline canon, with The Cage. Makes no sense. So we are not bound by any one design aesthetic.

2) Canon – “Enterprise” is canon and I always find it funny when some fans refuse to accept what THEY don’t like.

3) Klingons – Only SOME Klingons were affected by the augment virus as detailed in Season 4s “Affliction” and “Divergence”. On the Qu’Vat colony, the Klingon Antaak says the virus is spreading “from planet to planet, affecting millions.” It is quite clear that this is only a minority of the Klingon population at that point. And the Klingons are considered destroying those planets that are affected.

Smooth head Klingons are the product of a 1960’s TV show with a very small budget. Many fan films have used them and they look cheap frankly.

That is why when Kor, Koloth and Kang were brought back in Deep Space Nine’s “Blood Oath”, they were brought back as ridge headed Klingons. And that was BEFORE the explanation of why some Klingons were smooth headed.

We are not trying to replicate TOS. We are set 21 years BEFORE TOS and 12 years AFTER the USS Kelvin as seen in JJ Trek. Both being canon. So we will do something that we feel works. We are artists and Star Trek fans and have a lot of brilliant people working on this.

We will never please everyone. And I am as big a Star Trek geek as anyone. So you will just have to sit back and enjoy and trust we do Star Trek justice.